53rd ANNUAL I.D. DESIGN REVIEW

+1 ^ 3.14*twenty gabillion

“Because he’s photogenic” the editors say.

Photographer:

Art Director:

So do you think the LEAF light won BEST IN CATEGORY because of Herman Miller or Yves Behar?

Probably because it was Herman Miller X Yves Behar. The design media loves both those names, so stacked on top of each other they will win every award they apply for… there are a lot of beautiful modern lamps in the market, especially at that price. if I had that kind of doe to burn on a task lamp, this wouldn’t be on my list.

I wrote a little bit about this on my blog in a post called “The Leaf Lamp: Fabulous or Flimsy?” Yves Behar’s lamp, when you look way down into it, is pretty remarkable. However, my gut reaction is it’s flimsy. The thin aluminum leaves don’t inspire “firmness” in Vitruvius’ equation which means it may not matter how innovative the product is when it looks funny.

I honestly think that Yves Behar’s work is always inspiring, but he constantly misses characteristics of the base equation of design. Like don’t kill your user. What am I talking about? In a recent core77 video at the ICFF, Yves Behar presents some work he did in conjunction with students to create pet products. One of the pet products was a dog chew toy that smalled like chocolate. Did anyone mention to Mr. Behar that chocolate kills dogs, and teaching a dog to chew something that smells like chocolate may create a pavlovian craving for the very food that could kill a dog?

I may be full of shit, though.

Just thought I would bring this back:

There are certain views of it that look great but I saw one in a show room in a friends office and it is disappointing in person although it does look well crafted. Unfortunately it is neither good sculpture nor useful lighting.